The Crash Bandicoot Avengers
by ElectricSnowman
Summary: It's been five years since Crash had last defeated Cortex, and everyone is convinced that he has given up. Everyone except Aku Aku, that is. When Cortex finds a new power source that is far more powerful than he ever imagined, it's up to Aku to bring a team of incredible people to stop him. Warning: Eventual death of a character. This story includes some fan characters, too.
1. Prologue

**This is it...my favorite video game series combined with my favorite movie! I've been wanting to do this for quite some time now.**

**I do now own Crash Bandicoot and the characters from it, and the Avengers and its characters as well. I also do not own the character Tani Tiger, for she was created by Tara Cross. I only own my fan character Crush Bandicoot.**

* * *

It had been nearly five years since Dr. Neo Cortex tried to take over the world, and failed miserably. A lot had changed since then; previous minions of Cortex had turned to the side of good, and even some new recruits joined in.

Cortex had practically turned against his old minions before the final battle, saying that he already gave them a chance to please him, but they failed. Creating new minions with mojo, he threw his old minions out like garbage.

Pinstripe Potoroo happened to be one of them. The only reason he had ever worked for Cortex was for money, so he never really liked Cortex in the _first_ place. After the final battle, he went off on his own and started his own business, becoming rich and owning a large tower with his name on it.

Before the final battle, Komodo Joe was devastated. He was also glad, though, in a way. Cortex had just finished getting him a new weapon to replace his sword, and he just couldn't _wait_ to use it against him. A hammer that controls lightning...not to mention only _he_ can work.

Tani Tiger was a spy who only worked for her own personal gain. She turned to Aku Aku's side, though, after he had sent Crunch to stop her. She mostly helped Crunch in the final battle, instantly taking a liking to him.

These weren't all the people who were in the final battle, though. Most of the other minions that Cortex had turned against joined the fun, too.

Although these changes after the battle were good, some changes weren't as good. Crash Bandicoot had been a hero for years, but eventually grew bored, when having no one to battle. He wondered what happened to Cortex; for after he got defeated, he vanished. Crash felt as if he didn't need to be a hero anymore, with Cortex gone and all.

Aku Aku didn't take the news so lightly, though.

"Crash, you must be cautious. I have a feeling that Cortex hasn't _completely_ given up," he had told him.

"You're ALWAYS worrying, Aku. You need to lighten up," Crash had said. "It's been two years. Three, almost! Don't you think he would've been at it again by now?"

"I'm just thinking ahead, Crash. You never know what could happen," Aku said back.

Crash had insisted on giving up hero work, though. After a huge argument between him and Aku, he packed up his bags and left. Aku simply let him leave, knowing that any further protest against his choice would only make lead them to argue more.

Coco and Crunch stayed with Aku, though, having the same feeling as him about Cortex. After all these years...had he really given up?


	2. The Plan

The final battle mainly began when Cortex had found the Cube; a box like thing full of pure mojo. It wasn't the type of regular blue mojo that he used, though. It was large and clear, and the most powerful substance in the world. Aku couldn't possibly let Cortex get his hands on it again, so after everyone defeated him, it was put in a safe place...

Or so he thought.

Little did he know, the Cube was so powerful, not even _he_ could control its power. Lately, it had started acting strangely, and Aku was almost certain that if he couldn't control it, it would explode, causing massive damage to the whole island. Helicopters were all around, in case everyone on the island needed to evacuate.

Aku Aku and Coco walked into the house to examine the Cube.

"How bad is it?" Aku asked Fake Crash, who was near the door.

"That's the problem; we don't know," Fake Crash told him. They all walked into the room where the Cube was.

"So the Cube just automatically turned itself on?" Coco asked.

"Apparently," Fake Crash said.

"How long will it take to get everyone off the island?" Aku asked.

"The island should be clear in the next half hour," Fake Crash told him.

Aku and Coco both walked downstairs. "Aku, evacuation may be futile," Coco said. "If we can't control the Cube's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance!"

"I need you to make sure the phase 2 prototypes are shipped out," Aku told her. "Clear out the tech below. Every piece of phase 2 on a truck and gone."

"On it," Coco said, running away.

"Talk to me, N. Gin," Aku said, floating over to N. Gin, who was another person who had joined his side before the final battle.

Beside him was a large machine, that had the Cube in the center of it. "The Cube is acting really strange," N. Gin told him.

"I assume you pulled the plug," Aku said.

"It's an energy source; we turn off the power, it turns it right back on!" N. Gin said. "It's throwing off interference; radiation. Nothing harmful, though."

Aku stared at him. "That can be harmful," he said. "Where's Crunch?"

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual," N. Gin said, pointing above him.

Crunch was the main eyes of the whole place, and was pretty good with a bow and arrow. His experience with it earned him the nick-name Hawkeye. He was up above on top of the balcony, observing the whole situation.

"Crunch," Aku said.

Crunch looked down at him, then jumped down and walked over to him.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Aku told him.

"Well, I see better from a distance," Crunch said.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Aku asked.

"I'm not sure, Aku. If there was any tampering with the Cube, it wasn't from this end," Crunch said.

"This end?" Aku asked, confused.

"The Cube is a doorway to the other end of space, isn't it? Door's open from both ends," Crunch said.

"Not yet..." N. Gin mumbled, observing a computer.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Cube started flickering. It began flaring, sending waves of electricity around.

Everyone stared at it in shock. The waves of electricity gathered around the Cube, right before sending a bright blue beam across the room, opening some sort of portal. The portal sat there for a moment, then exploded, sending a huge wave of blue energy around the room.

When everyone got up, they noticed someone on the ground exactly where the portal had exploded. Some guards cautiously made their way over to the person.

The person slowly looked up, grinning evilly, and instantly, everyone recognized him.

_Cortex._

He was wearing a dark outfit with a long green cape, and was holding a scepter. He got up, glaring at everyone.

"Cortex, put down the scepter," Aku said calmly.

Cortex looked at his scepter and smiled, then pointed it at him, shooting a huge blast from it.

Aku ducked down for cover, and the guards around Cortex started shooting at him. Cortex reflected the bullets right back at them with his scepter, and headed over to everyone else.

Crunch and some other guards started shooting at him as well. Cortex shot another blast from it, hitting the guards, but Crunch leaped out of the way.

Cortex lowered his scepter, and looked around at the damage he caused, and all the guards lying on the ground. He smirked, then looked at Crunch. Crunch turned to escape, but was cornered by the wall. He turned around, and saw Cortex walk over to him, grinning deviously.

"You've worked for me before; you can do it again." he said, pointing his scepter at him.

Aku got up, watching Cortex poke his scepter right at Crunch's chest. Crunch's eyes turned from green to glowing blue.

Aku was shocked, and slowly made his way to the machine with the Cube in it. He took the Cube out, putting it into some sort of briefcase. He turned around and looked at Cortex, who had touched N. Gin with his scepter as well and hypnotized him, too.

Aku cautiously picked up the briefcase and began floating away, but Cortex caught him.

"Please don't," he said. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Aku told him.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else," Cortex said.

"We have no quarrel with you," Aku said.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Cortex said back.

"Are you planning to step on us?" Aku asked.

"I come with glad tidings of a world made free," Cortex said, shrugging.

"Free from what?" Aku asked.

"Freedom," Cortex replied. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, you will know peace."

Aku rolled his eyes. "You say "peace", but I have the feeling you mean the other thing," he said.

"Sir, Aku is stalling. This place is about to blow," Crunch told Cortex.

"The portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical," N. Gin said.

"Well then," Cortex shrugged, before shooting a blast from his scepter straight at Aku. It hit him, and Crunch took the briefcase, containing the Cube, and followed N. Gin and Cortex out the door.

Aku got up weakly, then yelled, "Coco!"

Coco ran into the room. "What's going on!?" she yelled.

"Cortex has returned. He turned Crunch and N. Gin to his side using some sort of scepter, but we have to get out of here!" Aku told her.

The whole place suddenly started collapsing, and Aku and Coco ran out of the house.

"We're clear, Aku. It's time to go," Aku heard Fake Crash say into his earpiece. He and Coco found the helicopter that Fake Crash was in, and hopped inside.

The helicopter lifted into the air, right before Aku and Coco watched as their house burst into flames, and exploded.

Not only did the explosion destroyed everything in its path, but completely demolished the whole island.

Coco did nothing but stare in shock as her home was destroyed. Tears grew in her eyes as she turned away from the window, and Aku comforted her.

Suddenly, seeing another helicopter fly below them, Aku looked out the window, and saw Cortex inside of it. He grinned, then lifted his scepter, shooting a blast straight at the helicopter.

Aku gasped, then took Coco, who took Fake Crash, and all three of them jumped out of the helicopter before it, too, exploded from the blast. Everyone fell to the ground of a different place, and watched as the other helicopter flied away.

Everyone was silent for a moment, until Coco turned to Aku. "Well...at least everyone else survived..." she said.

Aku stared at the ground, then looked at Fake Crash. "Fake Crash, sound a general call. I want every to be looking for that briefcase. This is a Level Seven. As of right now...we are at war," he said.

"What do we do?" Fake Crash quietly asked.

Aku was quiet for a really long time, until saying, "There's only one thing for us to do."


	3. The First Recruits

Inside an unknown building, Tani Tiger was tied to a chair, surrounded by a group of thugs. One of them slapped her across the face.

"This is not how I wanted this evening to go," the leader growled at her.

"I know how you wanted this evening to go. Believe me; this is better," Tani said back.

"Who are you working for?" the leader asked. "Whoever it is, does he think we have to go through him to move our cargo? You outdated information betrays you. The famous Black Widow...and she turns out to be simply another pretty face."

Tani smirked at him. "You think I'm pretty?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

One of the thugs grabbed her neck. "Tell your "leader", we don't need him to move the tanks. Tell him he is out," the leader said, walking over to a table and observing some tools.

Suddenly, a cell phone started ringing.

One of the thugs took out his phone and said, "Hello?" He paused for a moment, then turned to the leader, confused, and said, "It's for her."

The leader took the phone, and said, harshly, "You listen carefully—"

"I know where you are. We have an F-22 exactly eight miles out. Put the woman on the phone, or I will blow up the building before you can make it out," Fake Crash said on the other line.

The leader's eyes widened, slowly putting down the phone. He walked over to Tani, and handed it to her.

Tani held the phone between her shoulder and her head.

"We need you to come in," Fake Crash said.

"Are you kidding? I'm working!" Tani told him.

"What kind of work?" Fake Crash asked.

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation; this moron is giving me everything," Tani said, annoyed. "You can't pull me out of this right now!"

Fake Crash paused for a moment, then said, "Tani...Crunch has been compromised."

Tani froze right where she was. She didn't say anything for about a minute, but then finally said, "...Let me put you on hold..."

As the leader was about to grab the phone from her, she kicked him right in the leg, making him fall. She leapt up in the chair and spun it to whack another guy, then kicked the third guy and elbowed him in the stomach. She jumped into the air and landed on him, breaking the chair and knocking him out.

Tani got free from the restraints, and took the phone back. "Where's Crunch now?" she asked Fake Crash.

"We don't know," he said back. "I'll fill you in on everything when you get back, but first, we need you to talk to the big guy."

Tani rolled her eyes, and said, "Fake Crash, you _know_ Pinstripe trusts me about as far as he could throw me."

"No, _I've_ got Pinstripe. _You've_ got the big guy," Fake Crash repeated.

Tani stopped dead on her tracks, and went completely silent, knowing who he meant.

_Crush Bandicoot_.

* * *

Crush Bandicoot used to work with Crash. Once, they were both trying to stop Cortex from stealing a somewhat limitless supply of mojo from a temple, but then a terrible incident occurred. While Crush was fighting off one of Cortex's strongest mutants, he lost his balance and fell—right into a large pool of mojo.

Cortex had used mojo in some type of laser to create his mutants, but it was no way near _this_ much. Crush's whole body was covered in mojo, causing it to completely change. He couldn't remember what had happened, but he soon realized that he had turned into a monster and almost even killed Crash. Terrified, he left, not wanting anyone else to get hurt. But even though he had turned back to normal, he _knew_ that the mojo inside him wasn't gone, and that he'd lose control if he had ever gotten angry again.

Crush was in a large field, sitting at the edge of a hill. He enjoyed the peace and quiet, but that was suddenly interrupted when he heard someone walking behind him. He growled slightly, rolling his eyes.

"For someone wanting to avoid stress, you sure picked a nice place to settle," Tani said, which was no surprise to him.

He sighed, knowing that escaping from her wasn't an option. He turned around and said back, "Avoiding stress isn't the secret."

"Then what is it; yoga?" Tani asked, smirking.

Crush wasn't in the mood for jokes. He ignored her question and said, "I assume the whole place is surrounded?"

"Nope; just you and me," Tani told him.

"Good. Who are you?" Crush asked.

"Tani Tiger," Tani replied.

"Well then, Miss Tani Tiger; are you here to kill me? Cause I don't really think that would end well for everyone," Crush told her, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Of course not; Aku sent me," Tani said.

Crush froze. "...How did he find me?" he asked quietly.

"He never lost you. He just kept his distance, and even kept some other threats off your back," Tani said.

"Why?" Crush asked, still pretty suspicious.

"Well, Aku seems to trust you. That's why we need you to come in," Tani told him.

"What if I say no?" Crush said, crossing his arms.

"I'll persuade you," Tani responded.

"And what if the other guy says no?" Crush asked, knowing that she wouldn't give a straight answer.

Tani looked at him, and said, "You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to change that."

Crush looked back at her. "Well, it's not always a success," he mumbled.

"Crush, we're facing a potential global catastrophe," Tani told him. She needed to convince him to join; otherwise she'd hear it from Aku.

"Well, those I actively try to avoid," Crush said back, like it was obvious.

"Cortex is planning on using the Cube—a box like thing full of pure mojo—to wipe out the planet," Tani said, handing him a picture of the Cube.

Crush examined it for a moment, then said, "What does Aku want me to do; swallow it?"

_For someone who has anger issues, he's pretty humorous,_ Tani thought to herself, but then she realized she was going off subject. "He wants you to find it," she said. "It's been taken. No one knows mojo like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."

"So Aku isn't after the monster," Crush said.

"Not that he's told me," Tani told him, shrugging.

"And he tells you everything?" Crush asked, crossing his arms.

"Just talk to Aku; he needs you, unless—" Tani started.

"He needs me in a cage," Crush cut her off.

"No one's gonna put you in a—"

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Crush growled. His eyes were glowing green, and Tani immediately picked up her gun, pointing it at him.

Crush's eyes returned to normal, and he looked slightly amused at her reaction. "I'm sorry; that was mean," he said, honestly not expecting her to react like that. He raised his hands defensively. "I just wanted to see what you'd do."

Tani just stared at him, still pointing the gun at him.

"Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess, okay?" Crush told her.

Tani seemed frozen, though, like she didn't hear a word he said.

"Tani..." Crush said, worried that he might've scared her too badly.

Tani finally put the gun down slowly, then said into her earpiece, "Stand down...we're okay."

All the guards that were hiding in the bushes the whole time lowered their weapons.

Crush noticed them, then gave Tani a look. _"Just you and me?"_ he mocked her.

Tani stared at the ground, avoiding his gaze.


	4. The Second Recruits

Meanwhile, Aku was going to try and convince Crash Bandicoot to join in. It wasn't going to be easy, but out of everyone else, he had the most experience. Crash was living in an apartment, so that's where Aku headed.

Aku found Crash in his room, punching a punching bag. He was so distracted doing so, that he didn't notice him as he floated in. He managed to punch the punching bag so hard, it broke right off the chain, and fell to the ground.

Crash stared at the fallen punching bag, then walked over to the other end of the room and grabbed another that was lying on the floor, hooking it back up.

"Well well, long time no see," Aku said, startling him.

Crash instantly turned to him. "Oh. Yeah..." he said. He was still pretty annoyed at him about the whole argument that happened years ago.

"So what are you here for now?" he asked. "Trying to get me back into the world?"

"Trying to _save _it," Aku corrected him.

"You know I've given up hero work years ago," Crash sighed, turning back to his punching bag. "I thought you and I went through this. Cortex has given up world domination for years."

"He's at it again," Aku said, seriously.

Crash banged his head against the punching bag. "Aku..." he began.

"This is different," Aku told him. "He's found the Cube, which is the key to unlimited sustainable energy. Remember, it's what he tried to obtain last time?"

"Yeah, I remember..." Crash said.

"That is something the world sorely needs. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten stranger in the past few years." Aku said.

"I've fought Cortex for years. At this point, I doubt anything will surprise me..." Crash said, shrugging.

"10 bucks says you're wrong," Aku told him.

"Deal," Crash said. "I guess I'm in."

* * *

Meanwhile, Pinstripe was underwater in a suit made of iron that he had built years after leaving Cortex's Lair. He was examining a pipe in front of him, and put some sort of device on it. It fit perfectly, and spun around on the pipe, glowing.

Pinstripe swam back up to the shore of the water using rockets at the end of his boots, and flew up into the air.

"Did you dismiss the transition line? Are we off the grid?" Tawna asked him from a little phone inside his helmet.

"Pinstripe Tower is about to become a beacon of self sustaining clean energy," Pinstripe told her.

"Well, does that mean the arc reactor takes over and it actually works?" Tawna asked him.

"I assume," Pinstripe told her. "Light her up."

As he was flying to his tower, the lights in front of it lit up, showing the word "Pinstripe". "How does it look?" Tawna asked.

"Like Christmas, except with more..._me_," Pinstripe said proudly.

"You gotta go wide on the public awareness campaign," Tawna told him.

"Just enjoy the moment," Pinstripe said.

"I will when you come in," Tawna said back.

Pinstripe landed on the balcony of his tower, and started walking inside as a machine behind him took off all the parts of his armor off.

"Sir, Fake Crash is on the line," said Jarvis, Pinstripe's personal Artificial Intelligence program.

"I'm not in," Pinstripe said, rolling his eyes. "I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting," Jarvis told him.

"Ignore him. I've got a date," Pinstripe said, walking over to Tawna.

"Levels are holding steady, I think," she said, looking at a hologram of Pinstripe Tower.

"Of course they are," Pinstripe said. "Which brings me to my next question: How does it feel to be a genius?"

"Well, I wouldn't know now, would I?" Tawna said, smirking at him.

"What do you mean? All this," Pinstripe pointed to himself, "Came from you."

"No, all this came from _that_," Tawna said, pointing to the arc reactor on his chest. An accident that happened years ago caused him to get it.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Pinstripe Tower is your baby. Give yourself...12% of credit," he told her.

"12%?" Tawna said, crossing her arms.

"An argument can be made for 15," Pinstripe said back.

"_12%!?_" Tawna repeated.

"Fine...fine. I'll tell you what; next tower... is gonna have _Tawna_ written all over it," Pinstripe told her.

"Sir, the telephone," Jarvis said. "I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."

"Ugh," Pinstripe said. He looked at his phone and saw Fake Crash's face on it.

"Pinstripe, we need to talk," he said.

Pinstripe rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone. "You have reached the life model decoy of Pinstripe Potoroo. Leave a message," he said.

"This is urgent," Fake Crash told him.

"Then leave it urgently," Pinstripe said, hanging up.

Shortly afterwards, though, the elevator doors behind him opened, and Fake Crash walked into the room.

"Security breach," Pinstripe said.

"Fake Crash! Come in..." Tawna said, giving Pinstripe a look.

"We need you to look over this as soon as possible," Fake Crash said, handing Pinstripe a paper.

"I don't like being handed things," Pinstripe said, crossing his arms.

"That's fine, cause I love being handed things," Tawna said, taking the paper from Fake Crash. She handed it to Pinstripe.

Pinstripe rolled his eyes, then turned to Fake Crash and said, "Official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday."

"This isn't a consultation," Fake Crash said.

"Is it about the Avengers?" Tawna asked.

Fake Crash looked at her.

"Which I know nothing about," she quickly finished.

"The Avengers initiative is scrapped. I didn't even qualify!" Pinstripe said.

"I didn't know that either," Tawna mumbled.

"Yeah, apparently I'm follicle, self obsessed, don't play well with others..." Pinstripe said.

"That I _did_ know," Tawna said.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Fake Crash told him.

"Whatever. Miss Tawna? Got a sec?" Pinstripe asked Tawna. He led her out of the room, and said, "You know, I thought we were having a moment."

"I was having 12% of a moment," Tawna said, smirking. Pinstripe gave her a look. "What is all this, anyway?" she asked.

"This is..." Pinstripe began, before putting all the files from one computer screen onto other computers. "This." Each computer had one the Avengers on it.

Tawna absolutely stared at all the computers. "Looks like you have a LOT of homework to do..." she said.

"Well...what if I..._didn't?"_ Pinstripe asked her.

Tawna smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek, then she walked away, saying, "Work hard."


	5. Introduced to the Plan

Meanwhile, Crash was on the helicopter heading to the main Helicarrier, where everyone was to try locating Cortex whereabouts. Crash was watching Crush on some sort of holographic screen, surprised.

"So Crush never got rid of the mojo that was inside of him?" he asked.

"There's no way that all that mojo could disappear so easily. It's impossible to cure, I believe. It had a negative impact on him, so he has to be careful or he'll transform again. When he's not like that, though, he's actually a really smart guy," Fake Crash explained.

Crash continued watching the screen for a little bit.

"I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you officially," Fake Crash finally burst out. "I'm your biggest fan!"

Crash stared at him for a long time. "I can...tell..." he said quietly.

"You know, it's just a huge honor to have you on board!" Fake Crash said, smiling.

"I just hope I'm the man for the job," Crash said.

"Of course you are! You know, I even made sure that you had all the right weapons, and—" Fake Crash began.

"Whoa whoa, hey, I don't do weapons," Crash told him.

"Oh, did I say weapons? I didn't mean guns or anything like that...I meant something to protect yourself, like a shield!" Fake Crash said.

Crash thought about that. "Well, a shield would be really useful...thanks!" he said.

"No problem! Heh heh..." Fake Crash laughed nervously, then turned to face the guards behind him and whispered, "Put the gun back in the box; I guess someone else will use it."

* * *

Finally, the helicopter that Fake Crash and Crash were in landed on some sort of giant boat out on the sea. They both walked out, and met up with Tani.

"Tani, Crash Bandicoot," Fake Crash introduced.

"Hi," Tani said. She turned to Fake Crash and said, "They need you on the bridge."

After Fake Crash left, she turned back to Crash. "It was quite the buzz around here, you getting back into hero work," she said. "I thought Fake Crash was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Crash Bandicoot trading cards yet?"

Crash stared at her. "_Trading cards?_" he asked, like he couldn't believe it.

"They're vintage. He's very proud," Tani told him.

While they were both walking, they happened to see Crush wandering about, looking around cautiously. "Crush!" Crash said, walking over to him.

"Oh, hi, they told me you'd be coming," Crush said, shaking his hand.

"I heard you can find the Cube," Crash said.

Crush slowly looked down. "Is that the only thing you've heard about me?" he asked.

"Only thing I care about," Crash replied.

"Guys, you might want to step inside a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe," Tani told them.

Crash and Crush both froze. "Is this a submarine?" Crash asked.

Crush turned pale. "Really? They want _me_ in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?" he asked.

They both walked to the edge of the ship, only to see the water slowly going down.

Crush sighed. "Of course not; this is _much_ worse!" he said.

Soon, the entire boat like thing lifted into the air. Crash and Crush decided it was best if they went inside, so they did so.

Inside, they saw a whole bunch of people on computers. Crash stared at everything in amazement, whereas Crush cautiously stepped around, eyeballing the nearest exits.

Aku floated over to them, and Crash handed him 10 bucks. Aku smirked, taking it.

"Crush, thank you for coming," he told Crush.

"Thanks for asking nicely," Crush said. "So...how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Cube, you're free to go," Aku told him.

"Where are you with that?" Crush asked.

"We're sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops...if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us," Fake Crash said.

"Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Crush asked Aku.

"Tani, could you show Crush to the laboratory, please?" Aku asked Tani.

Tani walked away, with Crush following, and she said, "You're gonna love it; we got all the toys."

* * *

Back inside his abandoned lair, Cortex forced his new minions to build a machine to put the Cube in. (Yes, by then, he had hypnotized even MORE people.)

N. Gin looked around the crowded room, and said, "Where did you find all these people?"

"N. Sanity Island has no shortage of enemies," Crunch said back. He held up a holographic screen, and asked, "Is this what you need?" On it was a picture of iridium.

"Yes, that's exactly what I need. It's very hard to get hold of," N. Gin said. He saw Cortex suddenly walk by, and walked over to him.

"Hey, the Cube has shown me so much. It's more than knowledge; it's truth," he said.

"I know," Cortex said, smirking. "What did it show you, Crunch?"

"My next target," Crunch told him.

"What do you need?" Cortex asked.

"A distraction...and an eyeball," Crunch said, taking out his bow and arrow.

* * *

Back on the Helicarrier (the boat like plane thingy), everyone was trying to locate Cortex's whereabouts.

Fake Crash was next to Crash, trying to get him to sign his trading cards. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble," he said.

"No, it's fine," Crash told him.

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple years to collect them all," Fake Crash said.

"We got a hit; 67% match," a person suddenly said from his computer. That meant that they had possibly located Cortex.

"Wait; cross match...79%!" the person said.

Fake Crash walked to the computer and observed it. "It doesn't look like he's exactly hiding..." he said, confused.

"Crash," Aku said.

Crash slightly jumped, not knowing he was right behind him.

"You're up," Aku told him.

Crash sighed, but nodded his head and took his new shield with him.


	6. Finding Cortex

Meanwhile at some sort of palace, there were guards everywhere. There was a guard who was up on the roof, but heard someone collapse to the ground. He looked down, and saw one of the other guards on the floor, with an arrow lodged in his chest. He prepared his gun, but soon, an arrow hit him as well, causing him to fall of the building.

Crunch, along with N. Gin, both walked over to a closed door, where the iridium was kept inside.

* * *

Cortex grinned deviously from the upper room of a palace, glancing down at the crowd below. When everyone was gathered around to hear someone talk, he walked away from the balcony and down a row of stairs.

A guard at the bottom of the stairs turned around and suddenly noticed him. "Hey!" he yelled, but before he could do anything, Cortex whacked him straight across the face with his scepter.

The crowd, hearing the commotion, turned around and gasped. Cortex walked over to the man whom everyone was listening to, and grabbed him by his collar. He pinned him onto a table, taking a device out from his pocket.

The crowd watched in shock as Cortex lifted the device above the man's head, before jabbing it right onto the man's eye.

Crunch, who was holding the same device next to the closed door, got a hologram of the man's eye, and used it to open the door in front of him. He ran inside the room, grabbing the iridium, and handed it to N. Gin. They both escaped soon afterwards.

The crowd around Cortex screamed in terror, running towards the nearest exits.

Cortex still held the device, smirking as he watched everyone flood out the doors. He finally took the device out and put it back into his pocket. He grabbed his scepter, then casually walked out the doors of the palace surrounded by screaming people.

His usual clothes faded away into the black outfit with a long green cape. A crown appeared on his head, with two long horns sticking out. Hearing a police car approaching up ahead, Cortex turned to face it, and shot a blast as it with his scepter. The car burst into flames and exploded.

He walked over to the crowd of people, and yelled, "Kneel before me!"

The crowd turned to run away, but a hologram of Cortex appeared in front of them. "Kneel!" he yelled again. The crowd tried to run away again, but another hologram appeared.

"I said..." Cortex began, before slamming his scepter down, causing a force field to surround everyone so they couldn't escape. "_KNEEL!" _he screamed.

Everyone slowly turned to him, and hesitantly knelt. Cortex smirked at everyone.

"Is this not simpler...is this not your natural state?" he asked, wandering around them. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity. You were made to be ruled! In the end, you will _always_ kneel."

Suddenly, an old man stepped up in the crowd. "Not to men like you," he said.

Cortex smiled deviously. "There are no men like me," he said back.

"There are _always_ men like you," the old man said.

Cortex laughed, then told the crowd, "Look to your elder, people." He pointed his scepter at the old man, and said, "Let him be an example."

Right after shooting a blast from his scepter, someone jumped straight in front of the old man with a shield, reflecting the blast back towards Cortex.

Cortex weakly got up, glaring towards Crash Bandicoot, who was holding the shield.

"Well well; if it isn't Crash Bandicoot! My old friend..." he said.

"And a few others," Crash said back, as a helicopter hovered right above them. A huge gun was below it, pointing at Cortex.

"Cortex, drop the weapon and stand down!" Tani's voice yelled from inside of it.

Cortex looked down for a moment, then pointed his scepter at the helicopter. Before he could shoot a beam from it, Crash threw his shield at him, knocking him over. Cortex growled, then tried whacking him with his scepter, but Crash blocked it with his shield. Cortex struck the shield with a blast, though, causing Crash to fly back and hit the ground.

He looked around for his shield, but Cortex whacked him with his scepter. He held it above Crash's head.

"Kneel!" he yelled at him.

"Not today," Crash growled, kicking his shin. Cortex fell to the ground, and Crash grabbed his shield once more.

Tani tried to get a clear shot at Cortex, but couldn't. "He's all over the place..." she said.

Suddenly, she heard static come in on her earpiece, and loud rock music blasted in.

"You miss me?" she heard a voice say, and she rolled her eyes.

Crash and Cortex looked up, also hearing the music, and saw Pinstripe in his iron suit flying down towards them. He shot a huge blast as Cortex, who flew back and hit the ground.

Pinstripe walked over to him, preparing rockets that were all over his suit. "Make a move, reindeer games," he said, referring to Cortex's helmet.

Cortex stared at him, and slowly put his hands up in surrender.

"Good move," Pinstripe told him, his rockets going back into his suit.

Crash limped over to Pinstripe. "Pinstripe," he greeted.

"Crash," Pinstripe greeted back.


	7. Unexpected Guest

There was a bit of an awkward silence as everyone was sitting in the helicopter. To everyone's surprise, Cortex didn't say a word the whole time.

"I don't like this..." Crash told Pinstripe.

"What, Cortex giving up so easily?" Pinstripe asked.

"I don't remember it _ever_ being this easy," Crash said, suspiciously looking at Cortex. He turned back to Pinstripe, and said, "Aku never told me he was bringing you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Aku doesn't tell you," Pinstripe said back.

A flash of lightning suddenly struck the sky, startling everyone.

"Where did that come from?" Tani asked. "The sky was clear just a minute ago."

Crash turned around, and noticed that Cortex had an anxious look on his face. "What's the matter; afraid of a little lightning?" he asked him.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows..." Cortex replied.

A sudden _thump_ was heard on top of the helicopter.

Pinstripe put his helmet on and pushed a button, which made the back of the helicopter open.

"What are you doing?" Crash asked.

Suddenly, a figure jumped into the helicopter. It just happened to be Komodo Joe.

"Hey, Joe! What's up?" Pinstripe said, surprised.

Joe didn't look too happy, though. He hit Pinstripe with his hammer, and walked over to Cortex. Grabbing him by the neck, he went back to the door of the helicopter, and jumped out.

Pinstripe got up. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning..." he mumbled. He walked over to the door of the helicopter.

"Pinstripe, we need a plan of attack!" Crash told him.

"I have a plan; attack!" Pinstripe replied, before jumping out the door and using his jets to fly.

Crash growled, taking a parachute, and jumped out as well.

* * *

Joe hit Cortex with his hammer, slamming him against a rock. "Where is the Cube!?" he yelled.

"...I missed you, too," Cortex said, smiling.

Joe grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up. "Do I look like I'm in a gaming mood!?" he yelled at him.

Cortex only laughed, until Joe pointed his hammer at him. Cortex's smile turned into a frown. "You know, _I_ was the one who gave you that hammer, and _this_ is how you repay me?" he asked him.

"Well, you shouldn't have given me the hammer in the _first_ place if you were planning on turning against me," Joe said.

"I have seen the true power of the Cube," Cortex said, pushing his hammer away.

"Who showed you this power?" Joe asked. "Who controls this would-be king?"

"I _AM_ A KING!" Cortex yelled at him.

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Joe yelled back, slamming him against the rock. "You never were, and you never will be! Now, give up the Cube!"

Cortex stared at him for a moment, but then smiled. "I don't have it," he said.

Joe's eyes widened, and he pointed his hammer at him.

Cortex shrugged. "You need the Cube to capture me, but I sent it away," he said, smirking.

Joe growled, then said, "Listen well, Cortex...I—"

He was suddenly interrupted by Pinstripe flying right into him, knocking him over.

Cortex stood there waiting, with a blank expression on his face. "I'm listening," he said.

Joe fell to the ground, and Pinstripe flew down. Joe looked up at him and said, "Don't touch me again."

"Then don't take my stuff," Pinstripe said.

Joe got up off the ground. "You don't know what you're dealing with," he said.

"Shakespeare in the park?" Pinstripe asked casually.

Joe stared at him.

"_Doth mother know you wearith her drapes?_" Pinstripe teased, pointing at his usual outfit.

"This is beyond you, Pinstripe. _I'll_ take care of Cortex," Joe growled.

Pinstripe shrugged. "If he gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Till then, stay out of the way!" he said.

Joe looked down for a moment, but then took his hammer and chucked it at him. It hit Pinstripe straight in the chest, and he crashed into a tree, knocking it over. Joe reached his arm out and his hammer returned to him. He took it and started spinning it around, but then Pinstripe shot a blast of fire at him, making him fall. He flew over to him, kicking him.

Cortex watched them both from the rock mountain he sat at, like it was some kind of movie.

Joe fell to the ground, but got up and raised his hammer to the sky. Lightning struck down on it, and he pointed it at Pinstripe, zapping him with the lightning. It didn't really seem to affect him, though; his armor seemed to be taking in all the electricity. Pinstripe stopped for a moment, when the electricity stopped.

"Power at 400% capacity," Jarvis said from inside his helmet.

Pinstripe looked surprised. "How about that?" he said.

He held his arms in front of him, shooting the electricity straight back at Joe, sending him flying back and hitting a tree. Joe got up and growled, then ran towards Pinstripe. Pinstripe flew towards him, but then they crashed into each other and flew up into the air. Pinstripe pushed Joe as he was flying, hitting some trees along the way, until they both finally crashed to the ground, rolling around.

Joe got up first and grabbed Pinstripe, punching him in the face. Pinstripe shot another blast at him, but Joe ducked. He lifted him, and threw him at another tree. Grabbing his hammer, he was about to hit Pinstripe with it, until Pinstripe used the jets on his feet to fly away, causing Joe to hit the ground.

Pinstripe flew back over to him and was about to attack, when a sudden shield flew over and hit him in the head.

The shield returned to its owner, which happened to be Crash.

"Hey!" he yelled. He walked over to Joe and said, "I don't know what you think you're doing, but—"

"I'm here to put an end to this madness!" Joe yelled.

"Then prove it; put the hammer down," Crash told him.

"Back off, he loves his—" Pinstripe warned him, but Joe hit him with his hammer, causing him to fly back.

Joe turned to Crash, and yelled, "YOU WANT ME TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN!?"

He ran over to him, getting ready to hit him with his hammer, but Crash held his shield in front of himself at the last second.

The force of the hammer on the shield sent a huge wave of energy, sending everyone flying backwards.

Everyone weakly got up after a minute or so, and stared at each other.

"...Are we _done_ now?" Crash asked.


	8. Real Power

As everyone got back onto the Helicarrier, Cortex was surrounded by a whole crowd of guards, who were leading him to where he was going to be locked up. They were passing by the lab where Crush was working, making him look up.

Cortex looked at him, smiling.

Crush growled in return, his eyes tinted green. The incident that had happened years ago was all _his_ fault.

Cortex walked into a cage surrounded by glass, and the door shut behind him.

"In case it's unclear...if you try to escape, or even scratch that glass..." Aku began.

Suddenly, an opening came from below the cage, making the room windy. "...It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap," Aku finished. The opening closed back up. "Ant," he said, looking at the controls. He looked back at Cortex, and said, "Boot."

Cortex backed away, raising his hands defensively. "It's an impressive cage," he said, shrugging. "But not built, I think, for _me_."

"It's built for something a lot _stronger_ than you," Aku told him.

"Oh, I've heard..." Cortex said, smirking at a camera that was inside the cage. "A mindless beast."

The others were watching the screen when Cortex had said that. Tani slowly looked at Crush, who slightly clenched his fists.

"How desperate _are_ you? That you call on all these creatures to defend you?" Cortex asked.

"How _desperate_ am I? You threaten my world, you steal a force you can't hope to control, and you kill cause it's fun. You've made me _very_ desperate!" Aku told him. "You might not be glad that you did."

"Oh, it burns you to have come so close, hasn't it? To have the mojo...to have all that power; _unlimited_ power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to shed, and then to be reminded what REAL power is," Cortex said.

Aku rolled his eyes. "Well, let me know if "real power" wants a magazine or something," he said, floating away.

* * *

Everyone in the other room was silent for a minute, until Crush said, "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Joe, you seem to know more about this than we do. What's his play?" Crash asked Joe.

"Cortex has an army of mutants that he plans on powering with the Cube," Joe said.

"So he needs the Cube to build another portal...to his space station; where the mutants will be created?" Crush asked.

"Exactly," Joe said.

"I wonder why Cortex let us take him..." Crash said, thinking. "He's not leading any army from here."

"I don't think we should pay attention to Cortex. That guy's brain is a bagful of cats; you can smell crazy on him," Crush said.

"Hey, we could try reasoning with him, you know," Joe told him.

"He killed 80 people in 2 days..." Tani mumbled.

Joe froze. "Forget I said anything..." he said.

"What would they need the iridium for, though?" Crush asked.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did back on N. Sanity," Pinstripe said, walking into the room. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and long as Cortex wants. The rest of the raw materials, Crunch can get his hands on easily. The only major component he needs is a power source; something to kick-start the Cube."

Coco, who was also in the room, stared at him. "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" she asked.

"Last night," Pinstripe told her. "That packet...notes...the extraction theory papers? Am I the _only _one who did the reading!?"

"Does Cortex need any particular kind of power source?" Crash asked.

"He'd have to heat the Cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the shield," Crush said.

"Unless N. Gin has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Pinstripe said.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Crush told him.

"Finally, someone who speaks English!" Pinstripe said, walking over to him. He shook his hand.

"It's good you meet you, Crush. Your work on mojo and its effects are unparalleled. And I'm also a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous rage monster," he said.

Crush stared at him, not quite sure how to reply to that. "...Thanks..." he quietly said.

"Crush is only here to track the Cube," Aku said, floating into the room. "I was actually hoping you might join him."

"Fine by me. Where's the lab?" Pinstripe asked.

"Right this way," Crush said, walking out of the room.

* * *

Pinstripe and Crush were working in the lab for a while, until Pinstripe said, "You know, you should come by Pinstripe Tower sometime. Top 10 floors, all R&D...you'd love it; it's Candy Land."

"Thanks, but the last time I was around a lot of people...let's just say things didn't end well..." Crush said quietly.

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tensions, no surprises..." Pinstripe said, before poking Crush on his side with a stick.

"Ow!" Crush yelled, surprised.

Pinstripe looked real hard at him for a moment, but didn't see any difference. He sighed disappointedly, saying, "Nothing..."

"Are you nuts?" Crash said, walking into the room.

"Jury's out," Pinstripe said back, shrugging. He turned back to Crush and said, "You really have a lid on it, don't you? What's your secret?"

"Is everything a joke to you!?" Crash yelled, serious.

"Funny things are," Pinstripe said.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Crush," Crash said.

"It's all right; I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," Crush said, turning back to his work.

"You're tip-toeing, Crush. You need to strut," Pinstripe told him.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Pinstripe," Crash said.

"You think I'm not? Why did Aku call us in now, not before?" Pinstripe asked. "What isn't he telling us?"

"You think Aku is hiding something?" Crash asked.

"Of course. It's bugging him, too, isn't it?" Pinstripe said, pointing at Crush.

Crush looked up innocently, "Um...I uh...just want to finish my work here, and—" he began.

"Crush?" Crash said, suspiciously.

Crush sighed, then looked at Pinstripe and said, "Well, when Cortex said, "_a warm light for all mankind"_...I think that was meant for you. Even if Crunch didn't tell Cortex about your tower, it's still all over the news."

"Pinstripe Tower? You mean that big, ugly—" Crash began.

Pinstripe looked at him, offended.

"...Building in New York?" he quickly finished.

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. So why didn't Aku bring him in on the Cube project?" Crush asked.

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of Aku's secure files," Pinstripe said. "Jarvis has been running since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret Aku has tried to hide."

Crash rolled his eyes. "And you're confused about why they didn't want you around..." he said. "Cortex is trying to wind us up. He's starting a war, and we need to focus here!"

"Crash...tell me none of this smells a little funky to you," Crush told him.

Crash thought about that for a moment, but then said, "Just find the Cube." and walked away.

"So _that's_ the hero? Sheesh...I'm starting to think he was better off giving up this kind of stuff..." Pinstripe said, rolling his eyes.

"He's not wrong about Cortex, though," Crush said.

"Well, I'm gonna be there when all heck breaks loose," Pinstripe said.

"I'll read all about it..." Crush said, resuming his work.

"Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us," Pinstripe said.

"No...I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed...like a nerve. It's a nightmare..." Crush said back.

"You know what? I've got shrapnel lodged into my chest, trying every second to crawl its way in my heart. This stops it," Pinstripe told him, pointing to his arc reactor on his chest. "It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege."

"But you can control it," Crush said.

"Because I learned how to," Pinstripe finished.

"That's different..." Crush said, looking down.

"Hey," Pinstripe told him. "I read about your accident. That much mojo...should've killed you."

Crush looked up at him. "So, you're saying that the Hulk...I mean, the other guy...saved my life?" he asked.

Pinstripe nodded his head.

"That's nice," Crush said, shrugging. "That's a nice way to put it. But he saved it for what?"

Pinstripe shrugged back. "I guess we'll find out," he said.

He walked back over to his work, but Crush just stood there for a while, thinking about what Pinstripe had said.

Maybe he was right.


	9. Tension

Cortex wandered around in the cage a little bit, then stopped and smiled. "There's not many people who can sneak up on me," he said, turning around.

Tani was in front of him. "You expected me?" she asked.

"I figured you'd try to get me to talk," Cortex told her.

"I want to know what you've done to Crunch," Tani told him.

"I'd say I expanded his mind," Cortex said, smirking.

"And after you happen to "rule the world"...what happens to his mind?" Tani asked, crossing her arms.

"Ooh; is this love, Tani Tiger?" Cortex asked her.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt," Tani said back.

Cortex shrugged, and walked around the cage. "Tell me," he said.

Tani rolled her eyes. "Before I worked for Aku, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set, and I didn't care what I used it for, or on. I got on Aku's radar in a bad way, and he sent Crunch to stop me. He made a different call, though." she explained.

Cortex looked at her. "So what will you do if I happen to spare him?" he asked her.

"Not let you out, that's for sure," Tani said, rolling her eyes.

"I like this, though. Your world in the balance and you bargain for one man," Cortex said, smiling.

"It's really not that complicated. I got red in my ledger, and I wipe it out," Tani told him.

Cortex looked at her suspiciously. "But _can_ you?" he asked her. "Can you really wipe out that much red?"

Tani stared at him.

"Crunch told me everything," he told her. He got up and walked over to her. "You're ledger is terrific. It's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change everything?"

Tani backed away from him, but he continued.

"You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate; to have your own code. Something to make up for the horrors, but they are part of you, and they will NEVER go away."

Cortex slammed his hand against the glass of the cage, startling her.

"I won't touch Crunch; not until I make him kill you. Slowly...intimately...in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work. And when he screams, I'll kill _him_, too," he finished.

Tears came into Tani's eyes.

"This is MY bargain," Cortex told her.

Tani turned away from him, trying to keep herself from crying. "You're a monster..." she said.

Cortex laughed. "Oh, no. _You_ brought the monster."

Tani's tears instantly vanished, and she turned around. "So...Crush...that's your plan?" she asked.

Cortex looked confused. "What?" he said, but Tani already turned around.

"Cortex is planning to unleash the Hulk. Keep Crush in the lab; I'm on my way. Send Joe as well," she said into her earpiece. She was about to walk out of the room, but turned to Cortex once more.

"Thank you...for your cooperation," she said, then she left.

* * *

"Pinstripe, what are you doing?" Aku asked as he floated into the lab.

"I was kind of wondering the same thing about you," Pinstripe said back.

"You're supposed to be locating the Cube," Aku told him.

"We are. The model's locked, and we're snooping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll get the location within half a month," Crush said.

Pinstripe looked at the computer, and saw something about a "Phase 2".

"What _is _phase 2, anyway?" he asked.

Right after he asked that, Crash walked into the room and placed a weapon he found on the table.

"Phase 2 is when he uses the Cube to make weapons," he said. "Sorry, the computer was moving slow for me."

"Crash, we gathered everything related to the Cube; this does not mean that—" Aku began.

"I'm sorry, Aku...what were you saying?" Pinstripe asked, showing him a hologram of a weapon being built.

"I was right, Aku; the world _hasn't_ changed a bit," Crash said, just as Joe and Tani walked into the room.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Crush?" Tani told Crush.

Crush laughed to himself. "I think I was pretty well removed before," he told her.

"Cortex is manipulating you," Tani warned him.

"And you've been doing _what_ exactly?" Crush asked.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Tani told him.

"And I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy," he said, turning towards the computer. "I wanna know why you're using the Cube to build weapons of mass destruction!"

"Because we don't want another Cortex. We had to come up with—" Aku began.

"A nuclear deterrent. Cause that _always_ calms things down," Pinstripe interrupted, looking at the hologram some more.

"Remind me how you got your first fortune," Aku told him.

Pinstripe froze, remembering that he used to build weapons for Cortex's minions.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, he'd be neck deep—" Crash started.

"Whoa whoa whoa...how is this now about _me?_" Pinstripe asked innocently.

"I'm sorry; isn't everything?" Crash asked him back.

"Now listen here—" Pinstripe began, before they started arguing.

Aku started yelling at them, and pretty soon, everyone got into the argument, completely unaware that the whole time, Cortex's scepter was glowing brightly behind them.

"You speak of control, yet you cause chaos," Joe said.

"Yeah, I mean, what are we; a team? No, we're a time bomb!" Crush yelled.

Knowing that Crush was beginning to get angry, Aku said, "You need to back away."

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Pinstripe asked.

"You KNOW why; back off," Crash told him.

"Why don't you make me?" Pinstripe said, crossing his arms.

Crash rolled his eyes. "Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away, and what are you?" he asked.

"Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist," Pinstripe answered, not even offended by his question.

"I know guys with none of that and worth ten of you. I've seen your footage; the only thing you really fight for is yourself!" Crash told him. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero!"

"A hero? Like _you?_ You're a laboratory experiment that was a failure!" Pinstripe yelled.

* * *

Meanwhile, an unknown ship was headed towards the Helicarrier. In that ship happened to be Cortex's minions.

Crunch opened the door of the ship, holding his bow and arrow. He took out one of his explosive arrows, put it in the bow, and aimed it to the side of the Helicarrier. He let go of the arrow, sending it directly onto it. It began blinking.

* * *

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds," Crash told Pinstripe.

Joe rolled his eyes. "This is all just stupid; that's what I think," he said.

"Yeah, this is _definitely _a team..." Crush said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Tani, would you escort Crush back to—" Aku began.

"Where? You rented my room," Crush interrupted, crossing his arms.

"The cell was just in case—" Aku started.

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't. I know; I've tried," Crush cut him off.

Everyone immediately went silent, and stared at him.

"I got low. I didn't see an end, so I threw myself off a building, but the other guy woke up unharmed," Crush explained, glaring at everyone.

Everyone was shocked, but didn't dare speak a word.

Crush continued. "So I moved on; I focused on just trying to be alone. I was doing pretty well, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!"

Tani avoided his glare at her, and started second guessing convincing him to come.

"You wanna know my secret, Tani? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Crush asked her. By the tone of his voice, it sounded like he was going to explode at any second.

Everyone tensed a bit, backing away from him. "Crush," Aku said cautiously. "...Put down the scepter."

Crush was confused, but looked down, and noticed that he had picked up Cortex's scepter.

Everyone stared at him, and the whole lab went completely silent.

Before Crush could think about what made him do that, a beeping suddenly went off on one of the computers, meaning that they had finally located the Cube.

"Sorry kids; you don't get to see my party trick after all..." Crush mumbled, putting the scepter down and walking over to the computer.

"We've located the Cube," Joe said, amazed.

"I'll get it; I can get there faster," Pinstripe said, about to walk out the door.

"You're not going alone," Crash said, stopping him.

"Care to stop me?" Pinstripe asked.

"Put on the suit; let's find out," Crash said. "I beat you once, I can beat you again."

"I'm not afraid of you," Pinstripe growled.

Crush's eyes widened as he stared at the computer. It was an 100% match. "Oh my gosh..." he said.

Everyone froze for a moment.

Back on the unknown ship, Crunch pressed a button on his bow.

Out of nowhere, the arrow exploded, causing massive damage to the Helicarrier. An engine completely blew up, and part of the lab that everyone was in collapsed, sending everyone flying into different directions.

* * *

**Oooh, cliffhanger! Yeah, I decided to change things up a little bit about Crush's suicide attempt. I didn't really feel comfortable about the whole bullet thing.**

**Anyway, next chapter is my personal favorite part, cause that's when all the action starts! **


	10. The Hulk Unleashed

Crash and Pinstripe got up, and looked at each other.

"Put on the suit," Crash told him.

"On it," Pinstripe said.

All the workers on the Helicarrier panicked.

Aku weakly got up from where he had fallen. "Coco..." he said into his earpiece.

"The third engine is down," she told him. "It's impossible to make repairs while we're in the air, so somebody has to get outside and patch that engine!"

"Pinstripe, can you do that?" Aku asked Pinstripe.

"Got it!" he said.

Aku looked around for a moment, then said, "Where's Tani?"

Tani opened her eyes weakly, and looked around. She had fallen onto the floor below, along with Crush. She tried moving her legs, but they were stuck under a large pipe.

"We're okay," she said, into her earpiece. She turned around to see how Crush was doing, and her eyes widened.

Crush had his face buried in his arms, and he was trembling.

Tani knew that was NOT a good sign. "We're okay, right?" she asked nervously.

* * *

Meanwhile, the unknown ship had landed onto the Helicarrier, and everyone inside it got out. They opened a hatch, and all jumped inside.

"Keep that engine down!" Crunch told everyone.

"On it," they said, running away.

Pinstripe and Crash were about to head outside.

"Go to engine three; I'll meet you there," Pinstripe told Crash. Crash nodded and ran off.

Pinstripe pressed a button, and his iron suit appeared in front of him.

* * *

"Crush..." Tani said quietly.

Crush groaned, clutching his head.

"Crush, you gotta fight it; this is just what Cortex wants," Tani told him. "We're going to be okay; listen to me!"

Crush didn't look so okay, though. He was shaking even more, claws tearing out of his robotic hands.

Tani knew she had to calm him down somehow. "Relax, Crush...just take a deep breath, and calm down!" she said.

Crush tried to calm down, but it was impossible in the state of pain that he was in. He gritted his teeth, which were growing sharper as well.

Tani tried to hide the nervousness in her voice. "Crush, I swear on my life, I will get you out of this! You will walk away, and never—" she began.

"_YOUR_ LIFE!?" Crush yelled, glaring at her angrily. She was breaking his concentration, and he couldn't take it anymore.

Tani stared at him in shock, instantly realizing that she wasn't helping at all. Not only that, but his glowing green eyes along with his sharpened teeth had made him look downright terrifying.

Crush clutched his head again, spikes shooting up from his shoulders and head. He growled as his metal armor slowly began to crack from his body increasing in size. Tani quickly tried getting her legs unstuck, but it was no use.

Not wanting to hurt her, Crush moved away from her. He continued growing larger as his metal armor was breaking. He looked at Tani, and for a second, despite his frightening appearance, she could see the fear and apology in his eyes.

"Crush..." she whispered.

Crush turned away from her, though, and his armor completely broke off. The Hulk took over his mind, and he roared. Tani then realized that she needed to get the heck outta there, and tried all she could to get her legs unstuck.

Finally, she managed to get them out, and looked at the Hulk, who had his back facing her. Tani began backing away, but then the Hulk slowly turned around and saw her.

She stood there, completely frozen, until he roared and started charging over to her. Finally, she turned around and ran up a flight of stairs. The Hulk completely destroyed the stairs, though, making Tani jump into the air and grab some bars on the ceiling.

She scrambled into an air vent that was nearby, and moved as fast as she could, dents coming everywhere from the Hulk, who roared again.

* * *

Cortex could hear an echo of the roar below the floor. He slowly looked up, grinning evilly.

"Take us to the water!" Aku yelled to some of the workers.

"The recalibration is navigating after the engine failure," one of the workers said.

"Is the sun coming up?" Aku asked him.

"Yes, sir," he said.

"Then put it on the left! Get us over water!" Aku yelled. "If one more engine goes out, we drop!"

Crash had finally managed to get to the outside of the ship. "Pinstripe!" he yelled. "I'm here!"

"Good," Pinstripe said, flying over to him. "Let's see what we got." He examined part of the ship that was broken. "I gotta get this super conducting coolant system back online before it can access the rotors..." he mumbled to himself. "I'll just work on dislodging the debris."

He took part of the broken ship that was sticking out, and pushed it back in. He turned back to Crash, and said, "I need you to get to that control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position."

Crash nodded his head, and Pinstripe got back to work putting some of the broken pieces back together. Crash turned around, then jumped up from one part of the ship to another. He found the control panel, and absolutely stared at it.

"What's it look like in there?" Pinstripe asked him.

"It seems to run on some kind of form of electricity," Crash said, scratching his head.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious..." Pinstripe muttered to himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tani had finally managed to lose the Hulk somehow. She made it out of the vent, and cautiously looked around. Hiding behind a piece of debris, she saw a large shadow, which made her heart practically stop. It vanished, though, so she sighed with relief. Slowly, she made her way around, and into a cleared spot.

She was just about to escape, when a sudden roar behind her scared her to death.

Tani instantly whirled around and saw the Hulk right behind her. She got out her gun, and shot a nearby pipe, so smoke shot at him to distract him. She didn't even hesitate to escape, and ran for her life down a large corridor surrounded by glass.

She felt relieved for a moment, until she heard the glass breaking behind her. She turned around and saw the Hulk chasing her, not too far away.

Terrified, Tani ran even faster, avoiding all the broken glass and objects hurling towards her. She tripped over a pipe, though, slowing her down and causing the Hulk to catch up to her. He hit her with his arm, making her fly and hit the wall. She got up weakly, and looked up, only to see the Hulk getting ready to hit her again.

Tani gasped, backing away, when suddenly, something crashed through the wall, hitting the Hulk straight in the head. He crashed through the wall.

Tani looked at the large hole in the wall, and saw Joe and him falling to the ground. She breathed heavily, then slid down the wall, relieved.

* * *

**My favorite part! :D Yeah, I made Crush's Hulk side different from the regular Hulk, just to mix things up a bit. After all, Crush was exposed to too much mojo, so I guess that just made him more mutant-like.**


	11. Repairing the Helicarrier

Joe slowly looked up at the Hulk, then got up. The Hulk growled, and was about to punch him, but Joe ducked. He punched the Hulk, but that only made him angrier. He threw his fist down at Joe, who tried pushing it back.

"We're not your enemies, Crush!" he told him, trying to snap him out of it. "Try to think!"

The Hulk obviously didn't think, though, and hit him with his other arm.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pinstripe was blasting all sorts of junk out of the engine.

"Okay, the relays are intact," Crash said. "What's our next move?"

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't reengage without a jump," Pinstripe told him. "I'm gonna have to get in there and push."

"If that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded!" Crash warned him.

"That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage—" Pinstripe began.

"English please..." Crash said, not understanding a word he said.

Pinstripe rolled his eyes. "You see that red lever? It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out!" he said. "Stand by it, and wait for my word."

Crash turned around, and jumped off another part of the ship to the other.

* * *

Joe crashed into a wall on the other side of the room, knocking things over. He weakly tried to get up, hearing the Hulk roar in the distance, when he suddenly remembered about his hammer. He stuck his arm out, and waited for a moment. Nothing happened, but he still waited.

Finally, he heard some objects move around in front of him, and his hammer came out from behind them, flying right into Joe's hand. Grabbing his hammer, Joe turned around right as the Hulk was about to attack him, and whacked him with it.

The Hulk crashed into a plane that was apparently in the room, and growled. He got up, ripping the wing off the airplane, and threw it right at him. Joe, while running, slid right under it, then threw his hammer at the Hulk.

The Hulk tried grabbing it, but right when he did he went flying to the back of the room. The hammer fell to the ground, and he tried picking it up, but couldn't. He tried as hard as he could to lift it, but it wouldn't budge. He roared in anger, then Joe ran over and picked up the hammer easily, whacking him with it again. He jumped on top of him, but the Hulk tried to get him off.

"We need full evacuation on the lower hangar bay," Aku told Coco.

Coco started walking away, when she noticed something peculiar rolling on the floor towards her. Her eyes widened, then she shouted, "GRENADE!"

She leapt out of the way, right before it exploded. Cortex's guards started heading into the room with their guns. One of them tried to attack Aku, but Coco shot him with her own gun.

The Hulk jumped into the air, breaking through the ceiling and onto the floor up above. Joe fell to the ground, looking for his hammer, when the Hulk suddenly grabbed him.

"We have the Hulk and Joe on Research Level 4. Levels 2 and 3 are dark," a voice came through the intercom.

"Aku, the Hulk will tear this place apart!" Coco yelled as she continued to shoot guards that were heading through the doors.

"Get his attention," Aku said.

"Escort 6-0, proceed to Wishbone and engage hostile. Don't get too close!" Coco told someone in her earpiece.

A plane that was outside of the building suddenly crept behind the Hulk. "Target engaged," the pilot in it said, and it started shooting at him.

It didn't really affect him, but he growled, getting annoyed. The window behind him broke from all the shooting, and the Hulk turned to face the plane, while Joe escaped from him. He roared at the plane, then leapt right out the window.

"Target angry TARGET ANGRY!" the pilot screamed.

The Hulk jumped right onto the plane, though. He punched on the glass repeatedly, but it only left scratches. He then decided to get to work on destroying all the other plane parts, like the wings. The plane went out of control, and started spinning.

The Hulk finally couldn't hold on much longer, and flew right off the plane. The pilot on the plane managed to jump out of the plane and get his parachute to go off.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pinstripe fired a laser out of his hand to break off part of the Helicarrier that wasn't needed.

Pretty soon, some of Cortex's guards started heading to the outside of the ship. They caught Crash, and tried to throw a grenade at him, but he leapt and hit the grenade away from him, causing it to explode while falling off the ship.

He ran over to the guards and attacked them, punching one in the head and throwing another off the ship. Another guard started shooting at him, but he grabbed one of the other guns lying on the ground and started shooting back.

Back in the main room, Crunch was seen creeping through the doorway. He took one of his explosive arrows, and fired it at a computer, causing it to explode. Pretty soon, one of the other computers said that the power in engine one was now shut down.

Everyone froze for a moment, and felt the Helicarrier slowly tilting to its side. Everyone was was thrown across the room, some of the computers falling with them.

"Crunch took out our systems. He's headed for Cortex; does anybody copy?" Aku said into his earpiece.

Tani, who was still in the same place from when the Hulk hit her, was just sitting there in silence, shivering. She had never been so terrified in her entire life. Finally managing to snap out of it, she said into her earpiece, "This is Tani...I copy."

Outside, Pinstripe flew over to the engine, and got in front of the propellers.

"Pinstripe, we're losing altitude!" Aku told him.

"Yeah...I noticed..." Pinstripe said, beginning to push the propellers. Using the jets on his feet to move faster, he pushed it as hard as he could. The propellers were slowly beginning to go faster and faster.

Crash was still shooting at one of the guards. The guard started shooting at him repeatedly, and Crash tried to avoid it, but he lost his balance at the edge of the ship, falling. He gasped, and grabbed a rope that was hanging off the side of it for dear life.

* * *

Joe ran into the room where the giant cage was, only to see the door opening, and Cortex walking out, smirking.

"NO!" Joe yelled, charging towards him. He attempted to hit him with his hammer, but instead, ran right through him and fell straight into the cage. Before he could escape, the doors shut behind him.

The hologram of Cortex disappeared, and the real Cortex stood in front of him. "I just KNEW you'd fall for that," he said, smiling.

Meanwhile, Crunch was walking down the corridor that the Hulk had smashed before. Knowing then that someone was behind him, he turned around with his bow and arrow, pointing it at Tani. He fired, but she ducked and punched him. He fell, but got up and tried hitting her with his bow.

Tani jumped out of the way and kicked him, and he tried firing another arrow at her. Tani grabbed a bar and swung around it, avoiding the arrow and hitting him with her legs. Crunch pushed her into the bar, slamming his bow up against her neck.

Joe struck the side of the cage with his hammer, but it only left a small crack. He lowered his hammer, knowing that there was no way to escape.

"You know, that hammer is stronger than it looks. Let's see just how strong it _really_ is," Cortex said. He walked over to the controls, about to push the release button.

"Move away, please," a voice said.

Cortex turned around and saw Fake Crash, holding a giant laser gun type thing. "You like it? Started working on the prototype after the final battle. Not even _I_ know what it does," he said.

He charged it up, pointing it at Cortex. "...But I'd like to find out."

Before Fake Crash could do anything more, he gasped as something stabbed him straight in the back. The Cortex behind the controls vanished, and the real Cortex was behind Fake Crash, the point of his scepter pierced right through his back.

"NOO!" Joe screamed, watching helplessly as his friend collapsed to the ground.

Without any hesitation, Cortex walked over to the controls, and hit the release button. The entire cage—containing Joe—dropped right out of the ship.


	12. A Terrible Loss

Tani grabbed Crunch's bow from him, and punched him. Crunch slowly looked up at her, and took out an arrow. He threw it at her, but it nearly missed when she ducked. He took another arrow and tried to stab at her with it, but she grabbed his arm, twisting it. He yelled in pain, but then took the arrow with his other hand. He turned around, and grabbed Tani's neck, holding the arrow up to her.

Tani desperately tried moving her head away from the arrow, and bit his arm. Crunch screamed, dropping her. Tani ran up from behind him and pushed him, slamming his head right into the bar. From the loud noise it made, she could definitely tell it was painful.

Crunch collapsed to the ground, groaning. He slowly looked up at Tani, his eyes not as blue as they were before. "Tani...?" he moaned.

Tani looked at him, then—just to make sure he was back to normal—punched him in the face. Crunch fell to the ground, knocked out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Joe was tossed around the cage that was falling from the sky, hitting the sides of it. He noticed it the glass was leaving cracks from his hammer being thrown about. He got slammed up to the side of the glass, took a deep breath, then leapt to the other side of the glass with a large crack in it, breaking through it right before the cage smashed onto the ground. Joe flew and hit the ground in a nearby field.

Cortex, smiling proudly, turned to walk away.

"You're going to lose," Fake Crash said quietly.

Cortex turned around, surprised he was still alive. "Why?" he asked.

"It's in your nature," Fake Crash replied.

Cortex laughed, shaking his head. "Your heroes are scattered; your floating fortress will fall from the sky. Where's my disadvantage?" he asked.

"You lack conviction," Fake Crash said.

"I don't think I'm—" Cortex began.

He was suddenly interrupted by a giant fireball shooting out of the gun, smacking right into him. He crashed through the wall. Fake Crash just lied there, staring at the giant hole in the wall.

"So _that's_ what it does..." he said.

Pinstripe continued pushing the propellers, and the Helicarrier slowly began to lift. Finally, it went fast enough so he didn't have to push it anymore, and said, "Crash, hit the lever!"

"I kinda need a minute here!" Crash said, still struggling to climb the rope up to safety.

"Lever...NOW..." Pinstripe said, his eyes widening when he realized how fast he was going.

Crash finally made it up onto the Helicarrier, but the guard continued to shoot at him.

The propellers were going too fast for Pinstripe to handle, so the propeller behind him slammed into him. "Uh-oh..." he said, right before he was sucked underneath the propellers. He started spinning around repeatedly, screaming. Crash finally got up to lever and pulled it, slowing down the propellers.

Pinstripe got out from underneath them safely, and flew up over to him, exhausted. He noticed the guard trying to shoot at him, so he flew to him and attacked him.

Crash looked up and growled, noticing another ship had flown away. It had Cortex inside of it.

* * *

Aku floated into the room where the cage was, and gasped, noticing Fake Crash. He floated over to him to see if he was okay.

"Sorry Aku..." Fake Crash said, breathing heavily. "He escaped..."

"Stay awake...eyes on me," Aku told him sternly.

"I'm...clocking out here," Fake Crash said weakly.

"Not an option!" Aku said back.

Fake Crash gave a slight smile. "That's okay, Aku...this was never gonna work...if they didn't have something...to..."

He never finished his sentence.

Aku stared at him, waiting for him to finish, but realized that he was gone. He slowly looked down, trying to hold back his tears, and backed away when the medical team showed up. He turned away, and said into his earpiece, "Fake Crash is down."

* * *

Crash, Pinstripe, Coco, and Aku met up in one of the rooms, not saying a word. There was complete silence for about 5 minutes.

Aku was looking at some cards, and tossed them onto the table. "These were in Fake Crash's jacket," he told them. "I guess he never did get you to sign them."

Crash looked at the cards, realizing that they were his Crash Bandicoot trading cards.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the Cube...Crush and Joe. I got nothing for you," Aku said.

He paused for a moment, then said, "There was an idea—Pinstripe knows this—called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To see if thy could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."

Crash and Pinstripe remained quiet.

"Fake Crash died still believing in that idea," Aku told them. "In heroes."

* * *

Meanwhile, Crush slowly drifted out of unconsciousness, and sat up. He looked around, but didn't recognize where he was. He looked behind him, and saw a cabin. What was left of it, anyway.

Crush groaned, getting up, thankful that he was back to normal. He turned around, and saw someone.

It happened to be Dingodile, staring at him.

"You fell from the sky," he said, like he couldn't believe it.

Crush's eyes widened. "Did I hurt anyone?" he asked.

Dingodile shrugged. "There's nobody around here to get hurt," he said. "You scared the crap outta some birds, though."

Crush sighed with relief. "Lucky..." he said.

"Or just good aim; you were awake when you fell," Dingodile said.

"You saw?" Crush asked.

"The whole thing. Right through the ceiling..." Dingodile said, pointing at his destroyed cabin. "Thank goodness I wasn't inside that thing."

"I'm sorry," Crush said, looking guilty.

"Nah, that's fine. It's not the first time something like this happened..." Dingodile told him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Crunch was tied up in a chair, struggling to get free.

"Crunch...you're going to be all right," Tani told him.

Crunch closed his eyes and said, "How do you know that?"

"You'll be fine," Tani said. "It's just gonna take some time."

"You don't understand..." Crunch said, breathing heavily. "Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and stuff something else in? It's happened to me _twice_ now..." He slammed his head back against the chair and said, "Why am I back? How did you snap me out of it?"

"I hit you really hard in the head," Tani told him.

"Thanks," he said.

Tani looked at him, then got him free from the restraints that were pulling him down on the chair.

"Did Cortex get away?" Crunch asked.

"Yeah," Tani said. "I don't suppose you know where."

"I didn't know," Crunch said. "He's going to make his play soon, though; today."

"We gotta stop him," Tani said, turning around.

"Well...I guess if I put an arrow through Cortex's eye socket, I'll sleep better, I suppose," Crunch said.

"Now you sound like you," Tani said, smiling.

"But you don't; you're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why?" Crunch asked. "What did Cortex do to you?"

Tani looked at him. "I've been compromised," she told him. "I got red in my ledger; I'd like to wipe it out."

* * *

Pinstripe was in the room where the cage used to be, before it fell from the ship. Crash walked over to him and said, "Fake Crash was a really good guy."

Pinstripe turned to him, and said, "He was an idiot."

Crash's eyes widened. "Why? For believing?" he asked, his anger rising.

"For taking on Cortex alone," Pinstripe told him.

"He was doing his job," Crash said.

"Pfft. He was out of his league. He should've waited," Pinstripe said.

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Pinstripe," Crash told him.

"Right. I've heard that before," Pinstripe said, rolling his eyes.

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?" Crash asked.

Pinstripe turned and looked him straight in the eye. "WE ARE _NOT_ SOLDIERS," he growled. "I'm not marching to Aku's fife."

"Neither am I. We have to put this whole thing behind us, and get this done," Crash told him. "Cortex needs a power source. If we make a—"

"He made it personal," Pinstripe interrupted.

"That's not the point," Crash said.

"That _is_ the point; Cortex's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?" Pinstripe asked.

"To tear us apart," Crash answered.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take _us_ out to win, right? THAT'S what he wants!" Pinstripe told him. "He wants to beat us, and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience!"

"Yeah, I noticed earlier in that palace..." Crash said, thinking.

"That was just the previews. This is opening night! And Cortex; he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, parades, a monument built to the skies with his name plastered—"

Pinstripe stopped right in the middle of his sentence, knowing right then where Cortex would be.

Crash grinned at him amusingly.

"THAT LITTLE—" Pinstripe screamed, before running out of the room.

* * *

**Yes, Crush had fallen onto Dingodile's cabin from _Twinsanity_. Poor Dingodile...his cabin has been through a lot.**


	13. Performance Issues

Outside, on top of Pinstripe Tower, N. Gin was working on the machine that had the Cube inside of it.

Crash walked into the room where Tani was, and said, "Time to go."

"Go where?" Tani asked.

"I'll tell you on the way," Crash told her. "Can you fly one of those jets?"

"I can," Crunch said, walking into the room.

Crash looked at him, surprised, and looked back at Tani, who just nodded her head.

"You got a suit?" Crash asked Crunch.

"Yeah," he said.

"Then suit up," Crash told him.

Crash grabbed his shield, Crunch grabbed his bow and arrows, and Pinstripe was repairing his helmet.

Joe, still in the field from where the cage had crashed, lifted his hammer into the air, lightning striking all around him.

Crash, Crunch, and Tani headed over to one of the jets. There was a worker inside of it, and he saw them. "Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here—" he began.

"Son," Crash cut him off. "Just don't."

Aku just floated at the head of the Helicarrier, looking through the Crash Bandicoot trading cards that Fake Crash once had.

Coco walked over to him and said, "Aku...those cards were in Fake Crash's locker; not his jacket."

Aku slightly smirked, still looking at the cards, and said back, "They needed the push."

Something flying across the air interrupted his thought. He looked out the window and saw Pinstripe in his iron suit flying away, along with a jet.

"They must've found him," Aku said.

* * *

Pinstripe, of course, headed straight towards his tower, where he saw N. Gin and the machine.

"Sir, I've turned off the arc reactor, but the device is already self-sustaining," Jarvis told him.

Pinstripe hovered above the roof of his tower, and said, "Shut down the machine, N. Gin."

"It's too late! It can't stop now; it wants to show us a new universe!" N. Gin said back.

"Okay," Pinstripe said. He held his hands in front of him, shooting a laser out of them and at the machine. It bounced off a force field that was apparently around it, and bounced it right back at him, knocking over both him and N. Gin.

"The barrier is pure energy; it's unbreachable," Jarvis told Pinstripe.

"Yeah, I got that..." Pinstripe mumbled to himself. He looked down at the balcony of his tower, and saw Cortex standing there.

"Plan B..." Pinstripe said, flying down towards him.

"Sir, the Mark 7 is not ready for deployment," Jarvis warned him.

"Then skip the spinning rims; we're on the clock," Pinstripe said. He landed on the balcony, walking inside as the machine behind him started taking off his iron suit. He noticed Cortex walking inside, too, and confronted him there.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Cortex said.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Pinstripe said, shrugging.

"You should've left your armor on for that," Cortex told him.

"Yeah...it's seen a bit of mileage, and you got the _Glow stick of Destiny,_" Pinstripe said, pointing at his scepter. "Would you like a drink?" He got out a mug.

Cortex crossed his arms. "Stalling me won't change anything," he said.

"No, no...threatening. No drink? You sure?" Pinstripe asked. "I'm having one."

Cortex walked over to the window and looked at it. "There's an army coming," he said. "Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Pinstripe said, pouring coffee into his mug.

Cortex stared at him.

Pinstripe rolled his eyes and said, "It's what we call ourselves; we're like a team."

"Yes...I've met them," Cortex said, rolling his eyes as well.

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll tell you that. But, let's do a headcount here. We got a lightning dude, a hero who's defeated you umpteen times, a guy with _breathtaking_ anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and YOU, my friend, have managed to tick off every single one of them!" Pinstripe told him.

He hid his hands behind the counter he was at, clamping something onto both of his wrists.

"That was the plan," Cortex said.

"Not a great plan," Pinstripe said. "When they come...and they will...they'll come for you."

"I have an army," Cortex told him.

"We have a _Hulk_," Pinstripe said back.

"I thought the beast had wandered off," Cortex said.

"No, you're missing the point. There's no throne; there's no version of this where you come out on top!" Pinstripe said. "Maybe you're army will come, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Cause if we can't protect the earth, you can be sure we'll avenge it."

Cortex smirked, then walked closer to Pinstripe. "How will your friends have time for me..." He took his scepter and pointed it at him. "...When they're so busy fighting YOU?" His scepter glowed, and he poked it at Pinstripe's chest, but nothing happened.

Cortex looked puzzled at his scepter, then tried again. Nothing still happened.

"This...usually works," Cortex mumbled.

"Oh, performance issues, you know..." Pinstripe said, shrugging. "Not uncommon. 1 out of 5 people—" He was suddenly interrupted by Cortex grabbing his neck, and throwing him across the room.

Pinstripe fell to the ground. "Jarvis...anytime now..." he mumbled, weakly getting up.

Cortex grabbed his neck and pulled him up. "You ALL will fall before me!" he growled at him.

"Deploy..." Pinstripe gagged. "DEPLOY!"

Cortex threw Pinstripe at the window, breaking it and causing him to fall.

Cortex smirked, but then noticed that something behind him fell right past him and out the window, following Pinstripe. It happened to be his suit of armor, and it clamped right onto Pinstripe while he was falling.

Pretty soon, he was completely covered in the armor, and he used the jets on his boots to stop himself, and fly into the air. He flew back up to his building, and looked at Cortex.

"Oh, an there's one other person you ticked off! He name was Fake Crash!" Pinstripe yelled.

Cortex pointed his scepter at him, but PInstripe already shot a laser at him from his hands.

Hearing a sudden noise, he turned around, noticed a blue beam firing into the sky. He looked closely at it, seeing some sort of portal appear. There was a slight pause for a moment, before mutants started flying out of it. Not just like a few, but _millions_ started flooding all at once, and there seemed to be no end.

"Right..." Pinstripe said, staring at the portal. "...Army."

He flew up to the portal, shooting all the mutants that got in his way, but that didn't seem to help. Mini rockets opened up in his suit, and he fired them at the mutants. It got a lot of them, but there were still too many.


	14. Starting the Battle

The crowd below the portal gasped at what they were witnessing, and pretty soon, the mutants flew down the ground, destroying everything in their path. There was complete madness as cars, lampposts, and buildings were being destroyed. Hundreds of people flooded into small buildings for safety.

Cortex grinned evilly as he walked across the balcony of Pinstripe Tower, his crown appearing on his head. He watched the whole rampage that was currently going on with amusement. He turned around, though, when he heard a sudden _thud_ near him.

"CORTEX!" a voice yelled. Cortex turned and saw Joe.

"Turn off the Cube, or I'll destroy it!" Joe yelled, raising his hammer.

"You can't," Cortex told him. "There is no stopping it! There is only the war."

"So be it," Joe growled.

Cortex jumped towards him, pointing his scepter at him, but Joe dodged it by ducking under it. He attempted to whack Cortex with his hammer, but he dodged it with his scepter. He fired a blast from it, but it reflected off of Joe's hammer, knocking off the PIN in PINSTRIPE that were in big letters on the building.

* * *

The streets were filled with screaming people as the police finally showed up to take control. They did nothing but watch in astonishment as hundreds of more mutants flooded out of the portal.

"Pinstripe, we're on your three, headed northeast," Tani told Pinstripe inside his helmet.

"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" Pinstripe asked, annoyed that she wasn't there sooner. "Swing up Park; I'm going to lay them out for you."

Inside the jet where Tani, Crash, and Crunch were, Tani pressed a button, causing a giant laser to come out of the bottom of the jet, shooting at the mutants. "Sir, we have more incoming," Jarvis told Pinstripe. "Fine, let's keep them occupied," Pinstripe said, continuing to shoot at the mutants.

Joe and Cortex continued fighting each other, and Crunch noticed them from in the jet. He faced it towards Cortex, and started shooting at him.

Cortex angrily turned towards the jet, and fired a beam from his scepter at it, causing it to lose a wing. Crunch desperately tried to regain control of the jet, just barely hitting some buildings on its way down. It finally crashed to the ground, but not too badly.

The doors opened, and everyone went out of it. "We have to get back up there!" Crash said, pointing at Pinstripe Tower.

They all came to a sudden stop, though, when they heard a growl. Everyone slowly looked up at the portal, and saw a giant metal creature make its way out it, roaring. They had never seen anything like it before. Flying right past them, the giant metal creature completely destroyed everything in its path. There were other mutants on top of it as well, jumping onto the buildings and breaking inside.

"Pinstripe, are you seeing this?" Crash asked, slightly terrified of what was going on.

"Seeing; still working on believing..." Pinstripe said, flying over to the giant creature. "Where's Crush? Has he shown up yet?"

"Crush?" Crash asked, then he realized that he had completely forgotten about him.

"Just keep me posted," Pinstripe told him.

* * *

"Look at this!" Joe yelled at Cortex, pinning him to a wall with his hammer. "Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule!?"

"It's too late," Cortex replied. "It's too late to stop it."

"No," Joe said. "We can stop it; together."

Cortex looked up at him and smiled, and for a brief second, Joe thought that he actually had a change of heart.

Well, that all changed when he struck him in the head with his scepter though, knocking him over.

Joe got up, growling, and ran towards Cortex to attack him. He kicked him, making him slam against the window, breaking it. Joe lifted up Cortex, throwing him against the ground.

Cortex was in such a panicked state, he rolled away from Joe, right off the edge of the building. Joe stared at him, confused, until he realized that Cortex had fallen onto one of the mini ships that his mutants were using to fly.

Crash headed over to Tani and Crunch, who were hiding behind a car.

"We've got civilians trapped up here," Crunch said, pointing at a nearby building.

Crash turned around when he noticed a certain evil scientist on one of the flying ships, flying right past them. "Cortex..." he growled.

Everyone turned around, seeing that some mutants had noticed them and were heading their way. Tani took out her gun and started shooting at them.

"We got this; it's good. Go," she told Crash.

"Do you think you can hold them off?" Crash asked.

"Crash..." Crunch said, taking out some of his arrows. "It'd be my genuine pleasure."

Crash nodded and ran away from them, jumping off car after car. He blocked sudden blasts with his shield, and rolled off a bus onto the ground safely. Tani continued shooting at the mutants, while Crunch was helping some people trapped inside a bus get out through the windows.

Crash ran as fast as he could towards the policemen, who were trying to shoot at the mutants, but were failing miserably.

"It's going to be an hour before they can scramble the National Guard," one officer told another.

"National Guard!?" the other yelled, and they both suddenly ducked to avoid a blast. "Does the army know what's happening here!?"

"Do _we?_" the officer asked him.

Crash headed over to them, and said, "You need men in these buildings. There are people inside and they're going to be running right into the line of fire! You take them to the basements or through the subway; just keep them off the streets! I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

"Why the heck should I take orders from you!?" the officer asked him, annoyed.

A sudden explosion went off behind everyone, and some mutants headed over to Crash. He whacked one with his shield, and deflected a blast from another, punching it in the face. He kicked one, then sliced right through its arm with his shield, and punched it.

The officers just watched him for a moment, then one turned around and said, "I need men in those buildings. Lead the people down and away from the streets. We're gonna set up a perimeter all the way down to 39th street."


	15. Reunited

Meanwhile, Pinstripe was still trying to destroy the giant metal creature, but nothing really seemed to affect it. The creature finally noticed him, though, and started following him.

"Well...I got its attention...what's step 2!?" Pinstripe yelled. He flew away as fast as he could as the creature followed him from behind.

Crunch shot at mutants repeatedly with his bow and arrow, and Tani managed to steal a spear from one of the others. Crash then jumped down to them to join the party, whacking other mutants with his shield. More mutants started heading their way, but then they suddenly got struck by lightning, collapsing to the ground.

Everyone looked up and saw Joe heading towards them.

"What's the story up there?" Crunch asked.

"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable," Joe said.

"How do we do this?" Tani asked, sounding a little tired.

"As a team," Crash replied.

"I have unfinished business with Cortex," Joe said.

"Yeah? Get in line..." Crunch mumbled.

"Cortex is going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild," Crash said. "We got Pinstripe up top. He's going to need us to—"

Everyone turned around, hearing a noise, and saw Crush on a random motorcycle, heading towards them.

He got out, then walked over to them, saying, "Well, this all seems...horrible."

"I've seen worse," Tani said, looking at him.

Crush looked guilty about what had happened before. "Sorry," he apologized, staring at the ground.

"No, we could use a little worse," Tani said quickly, not wanting to offend him.

"Pinstripe, we got him," Crash said into his earpiece.

"Crush? Well, tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you," Pinstripe said.

Pretty soon, everyone saw Pinstripe fly over to them from the distance. Behind him was the giant flying metal creature. Everyone stared at it.

"I don't see how that's a party..." Tani said.

With Pinstripe and the giant creature getting closer to them, Crush casually started walking over to it.

"Crush," Crash said, stopping him. "Now might be a very good time for you to get angry."

Crush smirked at him. "That's my secret, Crash..." he said, walking closer to the commotion. He turned around one last time, and said, "I'm always angry."

Before their eyes, he transformed straight into the Hulk, and—with one punch—smashed right through the giant metal creature. Pinstripe shot it with a couple of rockets, and it got completely destroyed.

The mutants that were on the side of the buildings weren't too happy about that, though. They all roared at everyone. The Hulk simply roared back at them, and pretty soon, the whole team lined up in a circle, preparing their weapons.

Cortex didn't look amused. He stared at the team, then said, with a smirk, "Send the rest."

Everyone was happy they finally got rid of the giant creature, but when they looked back up at the portal, their happiness was cut short as even more of them started charging out of the portal.

"Guys..." Tani said quietly.

"All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment," Crash told everyone. "Crunch, I want you on that roof; eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Pinstripe, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or turn it to ash!"

"Can you give me a lift?" Crunch asked Pinstripe.

"Right," Pinstripe said, grabbing his arm and flying into the air.

"Joe, you gotta try and bottleneck that portal; slow them down," Crash said.

Joe swung his hammer around, wind forming all around him, and lifting him into the air.

Crash turned to Tani and said, "You and me, we stay here on the ground and keep the fighting here."

Noticing the Hulk behind him, he turned around. "And Hulk..."

The Hulk turned to him and growled.

"..._Smash,_" Crash told him.

The Hulk smiled, before leaping into the air, attacking a mutant that was shooting at him. He grabbed it, then leaped to another building, smashing the mutant onto another mutant, and punching another. He grabbed another mutant and threw it off the building, then leaped into the air, smashing some of the flying mutants.

Joe landed on top of a tall building, raising his hammer in the air. Lightning stuck down on it, and he pointed his hammer at the portal, electrocuting most of the mutants that came through it. It even destroyed some of the giant metal creatures as well.

"Pinstripe...you got a lot of strays sniffing your tail," Crunch said, shooting some mutants with his bow and arrows, and noticing a lot where following Pinstripe.

"I'm just trying to keep them off the streets," Pinstripe replied.

"Well, they can't bank," Crunch said, shooting straight at a mutant while not even looking at it. "Find a tight corner."

"I'll roger that," Pinstripe said. He flew around a building, some mutants crashing into it, but a lot still followed.

Pinstripe flew into a building, and dodged various attacks from the mutants. He was on the ceiling for a brief moment, before flying away when one of the mutants blasted the ceiling. The ceiling fell down right on top of all the mutants, and Pinstripe made it out of the building safely.

"Nice call," Pinstripe told Crunch. "What else you got?"

"Joe is take on a squadron down on Sixth," Crunch said.

Pinstripe looked offended. "And he didn't invite me..." he grumbled to himself.

One of the giant metal creatures flew towards a building, getting ready to smash into it. All the people inside looked out the window in terror, until they heard something behind them. The Hulk ran as fast as he could towards the giant creature, jumping straight out the window and grabbing its jaw, turning it away from the building just barely.

One of the mutants pinned Tani to the ground. Tani kicked the mutant off of her and took its laser sword thingy, shooting a blast straight at it. Hearing something behind her, she turned around, pointing the laser sword, but it was only Crash.

Tani breathed heavily, then said, "Crash, none of this is going to mean ANYTHING is we don't close that portal."

"Not even our biggest guns could touch it..." Crash said.

"Maybe it's not about guns," Tani told him, thinking. They both looked up at Pinstripe Tower, where the machine was on top of it.

"If you want to get up there, you're gonna need a ride," Crash told her.

Noticing all the little flying ships the mutants were on, Tani looked up and said, "I got a ride. I could use a boost, though."

Crash backed away, holding his shield in front of him, and said, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah...it's gonna be fun," Tani said, but she was quite unsure herself. She ran towards Crash and jumped onto his shield, then Crash pushed it up. Tani flew up into the air, catching the bottom of one of the flying ships.

Tani clung onto the ship as hard as she could, slowly climbing up it. She took out a small shard from it and used it to stab the mutant in front of her. She crept up behind the driver of the flying vehicle, before jumping onto it and stabbing it as well.

"Okay, turn...TURN..." she said, leaning right to avoid a building. "LESS! LESS!" she screamed, almost crashing straight into it.

Pinstripe resumed shooting at various mutants that got in his way, until he noticed Crash needed some help down below. He flew down, tackling some other mutants. Crash punched one of them, then held his shield in front of him as Pinstripe shot a laser at it, reflecting the blast onto other mutants.

Pinstripe flew back up into the air, shooting at mutants who were trying to climb the building that Crunch was on top of, who was shooting them as well.

The Hulk, along with Joe, were on top of one of the giant metal creatures, fighting off other mutants. The Hulk was grabbing some mutants and either punching them or throwing them off the edge, and Joe was hitting them with his hammer. The Hulk took a giant shard of metal he found, and stabbed it into the giant creature. Joe hit that shard with his hammer, sending a blast of electricity through the creature, sending it falling to the ground.

The creature crashed into a building, the Hulk and Joe jumping off of it.

They both stood there for a moment, proud of their teamwork, when suddenly, out of the nowhere, the Hulk punched Joe, sending him flying into a wall. He smirked soon afterward.


	16. Resuming the Battle

Meanwhile, the army apparently showed up, and were trying to take control. Not that their presence made much of a difference, though...

One of the mutants tackled Crash to the ground, pointing its laser sword at him. He finally managed the punch the mutant off of him, and got up.

"Crash, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They've cornered a lot of civilians there," Crunch told him through his earpiece.

"I'm on it..." Crash said, slightly exhausted.

Crunch was right; there were a lot of people in there, and a lot of of mutants as well. One of the mutants took out a bomb, which began beeping.

Crash rolled in through the window, though, throwing his shield straight at the mutant and knocking the bomb out of its hand. Avoiding blasts from the laser swords, Crash hid behind a table, then kicked it straight at some mutants, knocking them over. Crash ran to another, grabbing him and throwing him across the room.

"Everyone, clear out!" he yelled at all the people in the room, but then a mutant snuck up behind him and grabbed him. Another mutant walked in front of him, pointing some sort of laser blaster at him, but Crash jumped up into the air before the blast could hit him. It ended up hitting the mutant that had grabbed him instead.

Hearing a repeated beeping noise, Crash had almost forgotten about the bomb. The mutant grabbed it and threw it at him, but Crash held his shield in front of him at the last second.

The explosion pushed him right out of the building, and he landed on top of a car. A few seconds later, Crash weakly got up, surprised at how strong his shield was. He slowly looked up, watching all the people as they ran out of the bank.

One of the people caught his attention though as she turned to him, an astonished look on her face.

"P...Pasadena?" Crash whispered.

* * *

"Aku...the people have made a decision..." Coco told Aku, back inside the Helicarrier.

"I recognize that they've made a decision, but given that, it's a dangerous decision, and I've elected to ignore it," Aku said, seriously. "Until I'm certain that everyone can't hold it, I will NOT order a nuclear strike against a civilian population."

* * *

Back on the battlefield, Tani was still on one of those flying vehicles. Seeing a blast just barely dodge her, she turned around, then sighed and said, "Oh, _you._"

Cortex was indeed behind her, shooting blasts from the vehicle at her.

"Crunch!" Tani yelled.

Crunch turned around, and noticed her heading towards him. His eyes widened. "Tani, what are you doing!?" he said.

"Um...a little help?" Tani asked nervously, still avoiding the blasts.

Crunch grabbed his bow and arrow, aiming it carefully. Smirking, he said, "I got him."

Finally, he let go of the bow, sending it straight towards Cortex. It would've been a direct bulls-eye...if it wasn't for Cortex catching it in his hand before it could hit him.

He grinned evilly at Crunch, but what he didn't know was that it was one of the explosive arrows. Pretty soon, it exploded, destroying the whole vehicle he was on, and he smashed through a window of Pinstripe Tower.

Cortex looked up, only to see the Hulk jumping through the window after him. He ran to him, ready to smash him.

"ENOUGH!" Cortex shouted, stopping him. The Hulk stared at him, confused.

"You ALL are beneath me!" he shouted. "I'm the future ruler of this world, you dull creature! And I will NOT be bullied by—"

He was interrupted by the Hulk grabbing his leg and smashing him repeatedly onto the ground. He threw him at the wall, then started stomping away, muttering, "Puny person."

Cortex just lied there, in shock, and let out a squeal of pain.

* * *

Pretty soon, N. Gin began to wake up. At that moment, the blue in his eyes vanished, and he was back to normal. Getting up, he gasped as he saw the portal in the sky, and all the mutants flooding out of it.

Tani jumped off the vehicle she was on, landing on the roof. She saw the machine that had the Cube inside, and N. Gin as well.

"Cortex's scepter...the energy..." he said. "The Cube can't fight, but you can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault," Tani told him. "You didn't know what you were doing."

N. Gin thought about that for a moment, then said, "Actually, I think I did. I built in a safety to cut their power source."

Tani's eyes widened. "Cortex's scepter," she said.

"It may be able to close the portal," N. Gin told her. He looked down, and saw it right on the balcony of the tower. "And I'm looking right at it."

Meanwhile, Pinstripe was flying alongside one of the giant creatures, shooting a laser at it.

"Sir, we will lose power before we can penetrate that shell," Jarvis told him.

Pinstripe knew he had a point, so he flew in front of the creature, and said, "Jarvis, you ever hear the tale of Jonah?"

"I wouldn't consider him a role model," Jarvis replied.

Pinstripe flew straight into the giant creature's open mouth, blasting rockets inside of it. Pretty soon, the creature blew up into pieces just as Pinstripe blasted his way out. He didn't exactly have a good landing, though, crashing into a phone booth and getting hit by a parked car. He groaned, getting up, but then a blast hit him, knocking him over again.

Crunch was still on top of the building, shooting at some mutants. One of them got up to the top somehow, so Crunch whacked it with his bow and kicked it off the edge. He turned around, noticing a whole crowd of flying one headed towards him. They started blasting at the building, so Crunch had no choice but to jump off.

Taking out a hook-type arrow, he turned while falling, shooting it at the building, so a rope came out of it and he grabbed onto it. He swung right into the window of a building, crashing into it and falling inside. He fell to the ground, then held himself in pain, wincing.

The Hulk was on the ground, beating up all the mutants that were around him. A few blasts hit him, though, so he turned around, and saw a crowd of mutants in the flying vehicles, shooting at him. They all shot at once at the Hulk, who covered himself and roared at them.

* * *

"Aku, we have a jet in motion!" Coco yelled, back in the Helicarrier. "Take-off is not authorized!"

Aku gasped, and flew onto the deck of the Helicarrier. Seeing a jet fly by, he shot a blast of magic at it, sending crashing down just before flying off. He sighed with relief, until he heard something behind him. He turned around, realizing that he had shot the wrong jet, and the other jet flew out of sight.

His eyes widened, and he said into his earpiece, "Pinstripe! Do you hear me? You have a missile headed straight for the city!"

"How long?" Pinstripe asked, weakly getting up. The mutants around him were whacking him with their laser swords, so it was pretty hard to focus on a conversation.

"Three minutes, max," Aku told him.

"Jarvis, put everything we got into the thrusters!" Pinstripe said.

"I just did," Jarvis said, and pretty soon, Pinstripe escaped from the mutants, flying away.

Joe and Crash were fighting on the ground, and a blast suddenly hit Crash in the chest. He fell down, too weak to be able to get back up.

Joe dodged the others blasts with his hammer, then whacked a car, sending it at the mutants. He turned to Crash, helping him up.

"Are you ready for another bout?" he asked him.

"What, are you getting sleepy?" Crash replied, sarcastically. Joe gave him a slight smile.


	17. The Missile

Back on top of Pinstripe Tower, Tani had successfully grabbed Cortex's scepter.

"Right at the crown!" N. Gin said, pointing at the Cube in the machine.

Tani pointed the scepter at it, and pushed it through the force field. "I can close the portal!" she said into her earpiece. "Does anybody copy?"

"Do it!" Crash yelled.

"No—wait!" Pinstripe yelled back.

"Pinstripe, these things are still coming!" Crash told him.

"I got a nuke coming in," Pinstripe told him. "It's gonna blow in less than a minute." He flew a distance away from the city, seeing the missile. "And I know just where to put it..." he said, following it. Soon, he managed to grab onto it, and began flying towards the portal.

"Pinstripe...you know that's a one-way trip," Crash said quietly.

"Save the rest for the turn, Jarvis," Pinstripe said.

"Sir...shall I try Miss Tawna?" Jarvis asked him, quietly as well.

Pinstripe paused for a moment, wondering if she was alright. "Might as well..." he said softly.

Tawna was in a plane that was headed somewhere. Inside, she was watching a news report of the battle that was going on currently. She was so busy watching it and worrying about Pinstripe, that she didn't hear her phone vibrating from him trying to call.

Pinstripe, still clutching the missile, headed towards the portal. Crash and Joe looked up, watching him. The Hulk managed to get out of the rubble that covered him, and watched him as well. Right directly above Pinstripe Tower, Tani and N. Gin noticed him.

Pinstripe was only inches away from the portal now, and he flew right inside.

There was slight pause for a moment, and everyone inside the Helicarrier started screaming and jumping around with joy. Coco sighed with relief, almost looking like she was about to pass out. Aku smiled, but his smile slowly vanished, as he was thinking about how Pinstripe would make it out.

Pinstripe was slowly beginning to lose power in his suit as he flew more into space with the missile. Not hearing any response coming from his phone call, he saw the words "_call failed" _show up in his helmet.

Pinstripe's heart sank like a rock. As his suit completely lost power, he let go of the missile, sending it directly towards Cortex's space station. As he watched it explode before his very eyes, he felt himself beginning to fall. He didn't even try to stop himself, though, cause there was nothing he could do. He just closed his eyes, trying to imagine seeing Tawna's face one last time...

* * *

Back on earth, all the mutants that were currently there began to die out and collapse to the ground.

Everyone stood there staring at the portal, waiting for Pinstripe. They didn't see anything, though.

"Come on, Pinstripe..." Tani whispered, worried. They looked closely at the portal, seeing the explosion from the space station heading towards them.

Crash slowly looked at the ground. "Close it," he said quietly.

Tani looked up for a moment, but stuck the scepter into the Cube, disabling it. The blast it sent to the sky vanished, and the portal began to close. After it completely closed, though, everyone saw a figure falling from the sky.

"Oh my gosh..." Crash said, realizing it was Pinstripe. T

hey all stood there for a moment, until Joe said, "He's not slowing down!" He spun his hammer around, bringing the winds up to Pinstripe, but his speed didn't change.

Finally, before he could hit the ground, the Hulk leaped up onto the side of a building, catching him. Losing his grip on the side of the building, he jumped off of it and fell to the ground, still holding Pinstripe. As the others ran to him, the Hulk dropped Pinstripe in front of them.

Joe took of his helmet to see if he was okay. "Pinstripe!" he yelled.

No response came from him.

Crash looked down guiltily. "I...underestimated him..." he said quietly. "I never knew he would really...risk his _life_."

Everyone stared at Pinstripe for a really long time. The Hulk finally broke the silence, though, by roaring at him.

Instantly, Pinstripe woke up, startled.

"Whoa! What the heck!?" he yelled. He looked around, and said, "What just happened? Please tell me no one kissed me..."

Crash looked around at the city. "We won..." he said, exhausted.

Pinstripe sighed with relief, banging his head against the ground. "All right, yay. Hurray, good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow...let's...take a day." he said, exhausted as well. "Hey, have you ever had shawarma?"

Crash started laughing.

"There's a shawarma joint about 2 blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it," Pinstripe said.

Joe looked up, and said, "We're not finished yet."

Everyone looked up at Pinstripe's building, where Cortex still was.

Pinstripe stared at it, and banged his head on the ground again. "And then shawarma after?" he asked.

* * *

Cortex, still pretty beaten up by the Hulk, weakly got up, climbing up some steps. He lied there for a minute, then slowly looked behind himself.

Right in front of him was all the Avengers.

Cortex slowly got up, his eyes widening. He raised his hands in front of himself defensively, and said, "If it's all the same to you...I'll have that drink now."


	18. The End

For the past week, there had been nothing on the news but about the Avengers. Everyone in town was amazed by their acts of heroicness in saving them, and you could just tell how thankful they were.

Crash, watching some of the news, got caught up in one that completely surprised him.

"How I feel about the Avengers? Crash Bandicoot...saved my life! Wherever he is, or wherever any of them are...I just want to thank them," Pasadena had said to the camera.

Hearing that, Crash was absolutely glad that he didn't give up hero work. Everyone else was also really happy as well, glad that they had finally defeated Cortex—for _GOOD_.

Oh, what happened to Cortex, you ask? Aku definitely took care of him. If you remember from _Warped, _where Uka Uka was imprisoned...that's exactly where Cortex was sent. There was no way he was getting out at any time, _that's_ for sure.

And what exactly happened to the Avengers? Well, like Pinstripe said, they had to take a break, of course. Joe decided to go back to his brother to see how things were going. Crash took a vacation to the beach. Crunch went on his own vacation with Tani, and Pinstripe had successfully managed to convince Crush to join him in his tower...what was left of it, anyway.

* * *

Back at the Helicarrier, Coco walked over to Aku.

"Aku...how does it work now?" she asked him, curious. "Everyone's gone their separate ways; some, extremely far. If we get into a situation like this again, what happens then?"

"They'll come back," Aku told her, looking out the window.

"Are you really sure about that?" Coco asked.

"I am," Aku replied. "After what had just happened, they'll understand. We know we can make this work now."

So, in the end, peace was restored to the planet and such, and the Avengers were finally taking that break they wanted so badly. But first...they had decided to take Pinstripe's advice, and head towards the shawarma joint.

It was destroyed, but hey...who'd refuse to make food for a bunch of superheroes?

* * *

**Well, that's the end of my story. Hope you enjoyed it! And Happy New Year! :D**


End file.
